The Great Lands: Historical Atlas (1500 BP)
After the fall of the Renounced Gods, some of the Elder Folk – perhaps a quarter of the total population – remained behind in the Great Lands, out of love for the wide country and the people who dwelt there. The rest set sail across the Sunset Sea, returning to the other worlds where they had lived for many thousands of years.
During this evacuation, the Elder Folk offered many thousands of humans the chance to migrate across the sea in their train. The Common-folk were not permitted to sail the oceans of heaven, but the Elders could guide them to a new homeland in the midst of the sea, a gentle and hospitable place where they could grow strong and wise in peace.
Most of the people who accepted this opportunity were Zari-speakers, former clients of the Elder-folk domains of the western coast-lands. Since the Elder-folk did not teach their own tongue to outsiders, and the Zari languages they spoke had diverged considerably over the centuries, these settlers at first had little speech in common. However, the largest single contingent – and the one carrying the most administrative skill – came from the Kurani city-states of the coast of the Sailor’s Sea. As a result, the new settlement eventually settled on a common dialect that was largely of Kurani origin and structure, although with many Zari loan-words. From this humble beginning would grow the great and glorious Sea-Kingdom of later centuries.
Back in the Great Lands, many of the realms of the early Bronze Age underwent upheaval and change.
In the far north, the legacy of the Renounced Gods remained. Their former servants, the Homo ferox warriors who had filled out their armies, now divided into many clans and tribes. Every band was fiercely independent, constantly competing with its neighbors for the best hunting and grazing land. Tribal alliances formed and shattered with every turn of fortune. Three major “hordes” were fairly stable over the decades: the Akyat, the Marut, and the Targut. One day these people would strike out to make the other folk of the Great Lands tremble once more, but for now they had more than enough to keep themselves busy.
In the Kurani homeland, a new wave of migration from the margins of the southern desert – the Umirru tribes – brought down the Empire of Shuppar, reverting the region to a patchwork of independent city-states. Only in the eastern highlands did one realm, the Kingdom of Anshan, manage to keep the Umirru at bay. Other Kurani peoples migrated east, contributing to the collapse of the unified Mereti Kingdom.
Perhaps the most significant change came among the Mahra peoples. The Mahra had taken the brunt of the assault of the Renounced Gods for centuries, and their armies had been the spear-head of the counter-attack which eventually brought down the renegade deities. The experience had rendered them tough, stubborn, and warlike . . . and with the benefit of their own ingenuity and Elder-folk guidance, they had developed the most effective military technologies in the world.
Now, with bronze weapons and armor, powerful composite bows, fast war chariots, and sophisticated tactical systems, they were ready to transform the face of the Great Lands. The ancient Mahra had become the Chariot People of legend, pressing into new lands, taking over existing cities and kingdoms, imposing their own form of warrior-aristocracy wherever they went.
On the southern continent, Mahra charioteers set up the Nesali Old Kingdom, and strengthened several petty states in contact with the Kavrian matriarchs along the coast. Others swept down to the south and east, setting up the Karri realm that would be a major player in Kurani politics for centuries.
On the northern continent, the Athani tribes finished their migration down to the coast of the Sailor’s Sea, taking over the Zari villages of the region, and also coming into frequent contact with the Kavrian Matriarchy. The experience tempered them. They remained patriarchal and aggressive, but the Kavrian influence gave them some civilized polish, and an appreciation for independent-minded women who could serve as partners in rule.
Other western Mahra crossed the Cataracts for the first time, settling at the foot of the mountains and along the southern shore of the Great Lakes. Some of these were Krava’s remote ancestors, who would eventually settle all along the eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains.
Yet another Mahra migration set out a very long distance, passing by the remains of the Desolation to settle by the shores of the Northern Sea. These people were the Merwehri (“North Men”) group – small in number, great in influence. As a result of this migration, the pale-skinned people of the far north would one day speak a Mahra language and share many elements of Mahra culture.
Ironically, even with the departure of the Elder-folk and the increasing pressure from Mahra conquest, this era was probably the zenith of Zari culture in the far west. For all that the western Zari had no cities, their mathematics and astronomy were possibly more advanced than any in the world. Their love of megalithic architecture reached its height in this period, culminating in the construction of the Standing Stones on the central plains. Centuries later, Krava’s folk would marvel at this magnificent stone circle, and hold high religious ceremonies there at the spring and fall equinoxes. They would wonder what glorious people could have erected such a structure . . . never realizing that the peasants in their own farming villages were descended from the very Zari-speaking tribes who had performed the feat.